October 23, 2026
Ancestry recently released updates to their DNA Ancestral Origins section. Ancestral Origins is Ancestry’s name for their Ethnicity Estimate. This section attempts to show a breakdown of which specific countries your ancestors came from. It also gives the percentage of your DNA that originated in each of the countries.
If you’ve looked at the most recent update, you have probably noted some changes. If your ancestors come from areas in Africa, Asia the Americas or Central Europe, you likely are seeing more specificity. In some cases, you may be able to use these specific locations to help locate paper trails.
For other people, like me, the new Ancestral Origins may leave you frustrated. For example, I have long paper trails for my Scandinavian ancestors. I have spent years researching records in both Norway and Sweden. My records tell me I’m half Scandinavian – one quarter Swedish and one quarter Norwegian.
Ancestry’s estimates show me 39% Swedish and 9% Norwegian. That’s a big divergence from the 25% from each country that I expected. Despite my long paper trail in Norway, my ethnicity estimates consistently showed me with very small amounts of Norwegian DNA. When I tried to find a reason, the only answer I ever got was that these results were called estimates for a reason. They were supposed to be taken as clues not definitive answers.
Recently, I found a better answer for my low Norwegian DNA percentage. There’s something called the Scandinavian Blur. It is probably the reason for my skewed results. The Scandinavian countries share a deep genetic history. For centuries, even back to Viking times, Scandinavians intermingled throughout the area.
There is very little genetic difference between Norwegians, Danes and Swedes. This is particularly true for people from Norway. Norway has a long border with Sweden. DNA from people from Eastern Norway and Western Sweden is indistinguishable. It’s easy for folks who have deep roots in Norway to be conflated with Swedish folks just across the border.
My paper trail clearly indicates that my Norwegian ancestors lived along the Swedish border. This makes them prime candidates for the Scandinavian Blur. This is most likely why my ethnicity estimates from all the DNA testing companies undercount my Norwegian DNA.
I just learned about the Scandinavian Blur. None of the DNA testing companies I’ve used ever mentioned it. I don’t know whether other countries have a similar phenomenon, but it’s worth checking if your DNA results don’t agree with your paper trail. Maybe you’ll discover that your weird DNA ethnicity estimates are the result of a phenomenon like the Scandinavian Blur.
Carol Stetser
Researcher
Larimer County Genealogical Society